Light coming from structures in fundus images is differentially polarised, leading to clinical applications such as assessment of glaucoma and foveal fixation. Using polarisation, it has been shown to be possible to obtain objective image improvement in visualisation of the retinal structures, see references 1-4 listed after the description. Nevertheless, improvements are needed to obtain better images of the fundus for visualization, diagnosis and guided therapy.
Therefore it would be very advantageous to provide a method and apparatus to provide better imaging of the fundus of the eye to improve the diagnosis of abnormalities of the optic nerve head (ONH), and of other structures which interact with polarized light, including but not limited to those that change in glaucoma. This methodology may also improve visualization of other structures at the rear of the eye, for example blood vessels important to the diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy and age related macular degeneration among others. In addition bacteria and parasites and other invading cells and organisms may also be better visualized.